thirpron.adj.

Etymology: Origin obscure. The introduction of the word apparently coincided with the change of þās in the north from being plural of this to being synonymous with þā , plural of that : see these n., those pron. and adj., tho pron.¹ and adj. The earliest evidence is that of Cursor Mundi and the northern works of 1300–1350, in which þās and þā appear as plural of that, and thir in various spellings is the established plural of this, = southern thēs, midland thise, these. Some suggest its adoption < Old Norse þeir, þǽr ‘those’, plural masculine and feminine of the simple demonstrative sá, sú, þat, of which the plural was used also as 3rd person pronoun plural ‘they’. Others have suggested a combination of þe with hēr ‘here’, as if = the here, those here. Both suggestions present difficulties.Difficulties of derivation < Old Norse þeir , þǽr are: (1) The retention of inflectional -r , otherwise unexemplified, and the fact that þei-r had already been adopted in its pronominal sense as þeȝȝ , they , thei , in the north þai , þay , and was in full use in Cursor Mundi and other northern works: see they pron., adj., adv., and n. Moreover, neither thir nor ther appears to represent þei-r phonetically, as Ormin's þeȝȝ and east midland þei did. (2) The sense is quite different; the Old Norse word means ‘those’ or ‘they’, distinct fromþesser , -ar ‘these’; while thir has been from the beginning emphatically ‘these’, as distinct fromþā , þās ‘those’. The explanation ‘the here’, ‘those here’ suits the sense; but (1) no trace has been found of these in an uncombined form; and (2) the addition of here to a demonstrative, common in the midlands and south of England (see here adv. 1d), is not known as a northern idiom.